Ethereum (ETH) Network Hits Key Milestone Amid Crypto Bear Market

Ethereum Eclipses 50M Addresses

According to data compiled by The Block from Etherscan.io, the number of unique Ethereum addresses (not wallets) has recently surpassed a key, round number milestone at 50 million — a monumental accomplishment for any network. Interestingly, even amid 2018’s dismal unpredictable bear market, the growth of this figure hasn’t slowed (much), as depicted in the graph below.

Yet, this statistic’s current growth prospects are a far cry from those seen in early-January 2018, which was when ETH surpassed $ 1,000, and while demand for DApps and Ethereum (token) trading shot through the metaphorical roof. For example, on January 4th, as the altcoin mania was nearing its peak, 352,888 new addresses were created in a single day.

Today, approximately 70,000 new addresses are added to the network each and every day, which is far from a measly sum, to say the least. This could indicate that tens of thousands of consumers still see value in what Ethereum has to offer, as processes have become even cheaper, specifically due to market qualms.

It Isn’t All Sunshine And Rainbows

While the network’s continual growth is a welcome sight, it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, so to speak. As noted by The Block, the number of active addresses, or accounts that send and receive transactions on the day-to-day, has actually fallen, even while total addresses have been well on the rise. On January 16th, 2018, 719,093 Ethereum addresses sent and/or received transactions, that same figure sits at a dismal 232,085 on Saturday — not the end of the world, but a harrowing sight nonetheless.

Worse yet, active Ethereum addresses only account for 0.46% for all unique addresses in existence, a far cry from the ~3.5% seen in January.

The number of daily transactions on the network has also fallen, from 1,349,890 on January 4th — a seeming important date in Ethereum’s multi-year history — to 551,916 as of yesterday. To give the latter figure some perspective, 551,916 daily transactions amount to 22,996 an hour, 383 a minute, and 6.4 a second — a far cry from what Visa processes.

ETH Posts Slight Gain In ‘Sea Of Green’

In spite of the caveats of Ethereum’s current state, Ether has performed relatively well over the past 24 hours. According to Coin Market Cap, the asset is up to $ 85.5 apiece, while posting a slight gain of 1.2% in the past day. Although ETH is outperforming its rivals in Bitcoin (BTC), XRP, and EOS by less than 1%, it has underperformed a number of other prominent altcoins — Litecoin (+7.61%), Bitcoin SV (+11.09%), and Maker (+7.92%).

At the time of writing, the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is at $ 103 billion, with volume backing the market moves amounting to $ 10.4 billion (unadjusted).